Dominic Gray was born in South Wales and educated at Cambridge University and at University College Cardiff.

His early career as a writer and director included stints with Battersea Arts Centre, Glyndebourne and BBC schools radio. He went on to become the RSC’s Education Manager at the Barbican, where he initiated the Tongues on Fire young people’s festival at the Young Vic and took RSC Education into prisons for the first time.(He fondly remembers leading education workshops with the young Daniel Evans (now Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatres) and the even younger Jude Law).

In 1996, Dominic was appointed Director of Education at Opera North, where amongst many other projects he produced Operaville, a Millennium Festival commission telling the multi-cultural stories of seven Bradford families living through the year 2000.

In 2001 he became Opera North ‘s first Projects Director, with a brief to develop new work across music, performance and the visual arts. Partners have included the RSC, Tate and Manchester International Festival, and commissioned artists include composer Gavin Bryars, film-makers the Quay Brothers and novelist Hilary Mantel.

Dominic is a member of the AHRC advisory board and the Public Engagement with Research advisory panel. In 2007 he was part of the team that created DARE, the collaborative partnership between Opera North and the University of Leeds and he sits on the DARE board.